


Fragments

by Onxy_Black



Series: Red and Black [2]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: Discovery, Dreams and Nightmares, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-07-12 13:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19947085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onxy_Black/pseuds/Onxy_Black
Summary: After Agent 4's defeat of DJ Octavio, the heroes have won, but what is left for the octarians?Their leader is gone, their brainwashing broken, and now they need a new sense of purpose. Definitely not to stay here. But they had nothing, they were nothing. Simply fragments, fragments who seeked to be made whole once more.They had seen the light, they had heard the music, now they had to find its source. And along the way, if they found themselves, well, that was good too, right?---Original Characters (plural)Takes place after the events of dark before the dawn, or more specifically, after the events of chapter 21 in Dark before the Dawn.Follow 3 octolings as they journey to find, and complete, themselves.The author recommends reading Dark before the Dawn, though this fic can be a stand alone as well. There are references to the event of Dark before the Dawn, since this is after the events of that work, after all.This work is COMPLETE, thank you for all the support.





	1. Stuck

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! This is my second work, the first being Dark before the Dawn. I'll recommend reading that first, though this work can be a stand alone as well.
> 
> If there's any DbtD readers here, welcome back! I do hope you will enjoy this work, honestly I enjoyed writing this more than DbtD. (yes, I'm using acronyms, Im tired of typing the same thing)
> 
> But without any more ado, lets begin.
> 
> \---
> 
> Italics represent thoughts  
> \--- represent change in location, POV or time passing

“…”

The 3 figures trekked through the bland, featureless landscape of octo canyon, not a word exchanged between them. It had been like that for days now.

They were searching, searching for something, anything. Rumours spoke of a place, a series of pipes that could bring them to where they wanted to be. But without any maps or actual information, all they could do was search aimlessly.

So they walked, for days, searching. Food and water were running out, each of them had only a couple of nutrition blocks left.

They had left in a hurry, grabbing whatever they could. And now they wandered the wilderness, searching for a place that might not even exist.

But they pressed on. It was worth it. Even if they died, at least they tried. They could not continue living their life as before, they had seen the light. Freedom from the domes was possible. They had to find a way out.

\---

And yet another day passed. It was somewhat hard to keep track of time without a regulated schedule that told them what to do, and when to do it. But this, in a sense, was freedom as well.

A blast of air blew past, out here among the rocky outcropping, the flow of air was less regulated than in the centre hubs. They shivered, their equipment not providing much protection from the elements.

An overhang ahead. They took refuge there for a bit, moving rocks to provide whatever buffer against the wind they could. It was cold, damp, and unpleasant. The 3 octolings huddled together for warmth as far back as they could. They were tired, having walked the whole day, under the artificial sun which didn’t provide any warmth.

“…”

Shaky breathes were drawn. Their breath condensed in puffs of vapour as it exited their beaks. Precious vapour which was being lost now. The sound of their stomachs rumbling permeated the surroundings. They were hungry and thirsty and tired and cold. Eyes roamed, and found comfort and solace in each other. Hands clasped, as together, they dozed off to sleep.

\---

She awoke, eyes fluttering open to see the faces of her comrades. Taking care to disentangle herself with minimal movement, the octoling stood and stretched. Her stomach rumbled. She opened the waist pouch she carried, and 3 sad nutritional cubes greeted her. Now 2 cubes, as she popped one into her mouth and chewed, taking care to do so slowly.

 _The cubes were pretty bland, no, they were totally bland, even algae tasted better,_ but she had only so many left now. _Might as well enjoy the motion of eating, while she still could._

She glanced around the outcropping. It looked the same as before, though now, with fresh eyes, she picked out little details.

 _Algae._ There was a bit of algae and moss growing on the rocks. _Food, moisture._

She began gathering the algae and moss, cupping them in one hand. The amount, once spilt between them, was pathetic, but it was something at least.

The sound of her comrades rousing caught her attention. Her movement must have woken them—all of them were rather sensitive to every little bit of sound. Turning around, she found herself greeted by her 2 comrades, now awake as well. She held out her hand, offering them their portions of the algae, which they each accepted with a nod of thanks.

Nibbling on her own rather pathetically small portion of algae, she watched her comrades in silence.

After this, they would once more head for the vast wilderness in vain hopes of finding … something. Whatever it was, wherever it was. There was a chance they may never have an opportunity together like this again.

 _Rocky outcroppings were quite rare. Caves even more so._ Watching her comrades, she decided to break the silence.

“Erm.” Instantly 2 pairs of eyes darted to her voice, focused on her. They were capable of speech, but never talked. It just wasn’t normal in octarian culture, and there was no need to. Apart from answering superiors, there was no need to talk. _But now, now they no longer followed those rules, did they? There was no need to hold back anymore. Besides… besides they might never have this chance again._ With food supplies as low as they were… talking might mean unnecessary energy expended in the future.

“Erm. Names.” She continued, slowly. “Let us get… our names.”

They had identification, of course, but they were simply numbers before (she was Number 9678). Only those in command had proper names, and even then, they were rare, many choosing to continue using their number.

“I… call me Charger.” She uttered.

 _Totally unoriginal, going after her assigned weapon._ But she had nothing else that gave any sort of personification to her. She watched her comrades exchange looks among themselves, before they too spoke:

“I will go with Blaster then.”

“Oc…Octoshot for me.”

They smiled among themselves. As if they found something precious, which in fact they did. _A name. They now had names._ The 3 of them. _The 3 of them. Three was NOT a good number._

Charger remembered, vaguely, that there were once 4 of them. No, not their former leader Creta. _Another. Before Creta took over. There was another. Their first and original leader._

Charger looked into her comrades’ eyes, Blaster and Octoshot gazing back themselves.

“We … have to find her. Our… original leader.” Charger said, as understanding dawned across the eyes of her comrades. Nods of approval were exchanged.

“We will get out of here. We have to. To find her. To show her the light we seen.” Blaster said, earning more nods of approval.

“Y…yes! I… I think she may already be on the surface! Remember? She left about a month plus ago…” Octoshot stammered out, apparently not quite confident of speaking quite yet. Charger didn’t blame her, _everyone learns at their own pace now, right?_

The three of them pondered in thought. Their leader had left about a month plus ago, yes, it was coming back to them now. Memories were still fuzzy, but somewhere along the line they were assigned to Creta. _After His return._ Then this whole mess had occurred.

 _Though,_ Charger mused, _without this whole mess they never would had seen the light or heard the sound. They never would have been free._

\---

The three of them spent the next hour or so in the little cave, just talking. It felt good to finally converse with each other. They had a goal, at the end of it all. Sure, their supplies were still the same, but now they had a goal to aim towards. To find her, their first leader. Or at least, get closure over her ultimate fate.

They were getting up and preparing for the day when Blaster shouted. Turning her attention to her, Charger and Octoshot both rushed over to see what caught Blaster’s attention. There, underneath a rock, was clothing and gear. Octoling gear.

Looks were exchanged, before Charger crouched down and tugged at the pile of gear. It was all that it was, the pile of gear was a pile of gear. _But it meant something, someone had come here as well, someone who had to hide their gear under rocks. Why?_

The 3 of them spilt and began searching the rocky outcropping for any clues as to why. It didn’t take long, Octoshot found it behind some rocks. Calling her comrades over, she showed them her find. A sewer grate with pipes leading to it sat covered by the large rock. After investigation, they found their octopus form to be able to fit through the pipe, but a force immediately drew on them, pulling them in. Charger and Octoshot had hastily pulled Blaster out before she was sucked in.

So now they sat around, debating whether they should chance it and enter the pipes and grate. It was tempting, and they had literally nowhere else to go. That and if nothing else, this is was probably the closest they would ever get to finding whatever they were looking for. It was a pipe that lead somewhere, after all.

Charger and Blaster were for it, while Octoshot was somewhat hesitant about it. Eventually, the group of three decided to bite the bullet and jump in. If they died doing so, well, they were prepared to do so from the start anyways. _What more could they lose?_

And so, with a deep breath, the 3 Octoling shifted form and jumped into the pipes, allowing themselves to be sucked into the grate and launched to who knows where.

Feeling themselves to be taken through the grate, they hoped it would bring them to their destination. Where the light and the sound were. The surface. And with it, they would be a step closer to realizing their new dream.

Their vision. To find her, their leader. Their missing piece. Their comrade.

_Their… Friend._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOO! Im Back! 
> 
> So this was originally going to be a single stand alone chapter as an epilogue to DbtD. Buuuut. I realized I could totally expand it. So I did. Annnd now its a separate fic. Hahaha.
> 
> Well. I really enjoyed writing this though! Like, Really!
> 
> If anysquid is wondering on how much DbtD references there are going to be be... erm. There are returning characters. but, this fic is really about Charger, Blaster, and Octoshot and their journey to find themselves.
> 
> Right. So I finished writing this fic completely on 24July. I need to post the chapters. Erm. im still in the limited internet and no time phrase. so yea. Do bear with me.
> 
> As always, feedback is appreciated and loved, and I would try my best to reply to every comment! 
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!  
> (Yes Im just going got use this as my signing off phrase, Nintendo please don't sue me)


	2. Culture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing

The soft dinging sound of the tower floated in the air. 8 liked it _. It was… nice. Nice and peaceful, just sit on the tower and have a comfortable ride. Oh, though others will try to snatch the place, in which case it was allowed for 8 to shoot them._ And shoot them she did, lazily crocking her splat charger as she leaned against the tower.

“This be too easy… When you say is competitive ranked, thought me it would be more, erm, competitive?” 8 droned in rather broken Inking (Shush, she was still learning), looking over to her teammate and squid in question who brought her here.

“I know exactly what you mean, girl. So, wanna grab some ice cream after this? My treat.” Agent 4 responded with a lazy grin of her own. _No, not agent 4, what was her name again? Ah right, Shelly. Shelly._ 8 mentally noted once more.

 _So many names to remember._ Not that she minded, she loved learning new things. _Except the metro. All she had learnt in the metro was 10,000 ways on how to die. Urg._

8 replied with a nod. She had no idea what ice cream was, though she was game to try it. _It sounded… weird. Ice, as in ice blocks? And cream? What was that? Ah well, she would find out soon enough. Ah, there was someone trying to steal their seat on the tower. Nope._

8 hoisted her charger, took casual aim and splatted the poor Inkling. She had been somewhat hesitant at the start about this whole splatting each other for sport thing, but with some prodding from her fellow agent, she tried it out. She had been on the surface for close to 2 weeks now, and the agents of New Squidbeak Splatoon had been rather accommodating to her. _Primarily agent 4._

4, Shelly had been so nice to her, taking her out to learn about Inkling culture, experiencing and immersing 8 in the social scene.

_The other agents, well. 3 was nice enough, though it seemed she preferred to keep her distance. 0 was nice too, but kinda fell into the same category as 3. Not quite the keep his distance type, but apparently he and agent 3 were still cleaning up Kamabo. And the rest of the agents… 1 and 2, Callie and Marie, The Squid Sisters._

8 didn’t even dare speak to them, she regarded them as literal demi-Cods. _Her savours, who broke her out of the brainwashing 2 years ago. And finally, Pearl and Marina,_ well they weren’t agents exactly, but were pretty much considered to be by the rest of the splatoon. _But yea, Pearl and Marina were great. They took her in after the whole incident with the statue, and had cared for her ever since._ Except 8 didn’t quite want to impose on them any longer. It didn’t feel right. Maybe she would have a talk with them later regarding this.

“Yo 8! Sorry to interrupt but we’re close to their spawn now. Enemies going to be swarming us, want some action?” 4’s, _no_ , Shelly’s voice interrupted her thoughts. _Ah, right, they were in the middle of a game._

A ranked game, except that due to her low level, all they been getting matched up against were low level teams. Not really low, low, but like around rank A or B? Except her companion was agent freaking 4, rank S+, and herself who, while being a lowly rank C-, had just saved the world from a giant statue laser thing about a week ago. She felt bad for her enemies. A tad.

8 nodded at Shelly and brought her charger to bear, taking aim and firing, inking the ground in front. Shelly leapt from the tower, dualies spraying ink and pushing the remaining enemies out of position… straight into her shots.

 _4, 3, 2, …. Ohh he was running? Nope. 1. 0. Another team wipe._ Shelly jumped back onto the tower, and raised her hand in a high-five.

“Booyah!” Shelly exclaimed as 8 returned the high-five. “And good game!” she prematurely announced, then again it was pretty much set, they were already approaching the final checkpoint.

“Booyah!” 8 returned. _She loved to Booyah! Like really, after all, a Booyah! had been what saved the world._ With a ding, the tower approached the final checkpoint and the whistle blew. _Game. They won. Yay for them!_ 8 smiled, winning always felt good, though… she really felt bad for all the poor inklings they had trampled over so far. _Ah well, time to return._

Both agents of NSS exited the lobby, chattering about their previous few matches. Now that 8 thought about it, there were 2 other inklings in their team as well, were there not? She didn’t see them in the match at all, well, they probably were pretty low level as well _._

 _Ah well, whatever. Time for ice cream. Whatever it was._ Shelly assured her it was good though. And who was she to question it.

\---

 _Oh. Cod. Ice cream was Good! Like Good with a capital G Good._ Both she and her companion had gone with double scoops of pure deliciousness, and were now seated on one of the public benches talking about the day.

“So, like I hoped you had fun today? Like, girl. I could totally see us hanging out more. If, like, you’re up for it.” 8 found Shelly’s choice of words to be rather hard to understand, but got the gist of it.

“Yes. I would very like that. Me thank you today” 8 smiled and replied. As part of her ‘get to know Inkopolis’, the captain had instructed the agents to help her get used to Inkling culture in whatever way they could. _Truly, what a nice man._ And since agents 0 and 3 were busy, agents 1 and 2 were, ...well 8 didn’t want to bother them, it left agent 4 to step in.

 _Agent 4, Shelly, as she introduced herself, was what they called a pro-ranker. She played ranked games for a living, with an actual team and all. And despite her rather tough, packed schedule, 4 had found time to help 8 acclimate to Inkling culture._ 8 would remember that, she would be forever grateful. Today was the day Shelly introduced 8 to ranked games, and 8 had been excited for a bit of a challenge _… except it turned out like it did. It seemed the average Inkling wasn’t all that strong as she learnt they were._

“Well, girl. I gotta scram now. Going to finally meet them teammates who I been missing for like, a month now. Damned squids keep teasing me about missing out on something. Except I know nothing about nothing. Heh. Well, see ya later maybe” Shelly demolished the remainder of her cone in a single gulp, much to the surprise of 8. _Was that how ice creams were eaten? Not nibbled on? She should try that._

 _Ohhh right. Shelly was going to meet her teammates later today._ 8 waved goodbye as Shelly exited, and made for the Square once more.

 _Well, no reason to stay here any longer_ , 8 mused, _might as well finish the ice cream first._ 8 opened her beak, and just as Shelly did earlier, and shoved the entire cone into her mouth.

 _Huh. That was certainly a new sensation. Cold. Oh so cold. Interesting._ 8 licked at her claws to clean off some melted ice cream as she stood up. Time to head back to Pearl’s mansion, where she was currently staying.

 _Though… she didn’t particularly want to, yet._ It was only 4pm, there was plenty of time. Perhaps she could hang around a bit more. _Oh! She could explore the Square, that would be nice._

Making up her mind, 8 made for the Square, and began mapping out the area. Always good to have more information on her surroundings now.

\---

She didn’t want to admit it, but she was lost. She been walking, and walking, and now she was in some back alley and hopelessly lost. And she couldn’t even ask anyone for help. The place was deserted. Somehow, despite being so close to the Square (she could still hear sounds from the Square), the place was empty, no squid in sight. It was a maze of corridors, spiralling, splitting, merging and 8 was pretty sure she seen the same sign thrice now.

_Urg. Not good._

She could press the emergency locator Marina had given her. According to Marina, it would instantly send a signal of her position to Marina’s phone, and Off the Hook would come get her. Except she didn’t want to trouble her hosts more than she already did. They were probably still working anyways. She might press it once it was 5pm, off work hours. Checking the time, 8 found it to be 4.48pm, _eh, just a little more, she might as well continue exploring and try to get out. She might get lucky._

It was then when she heard the clogging, hissing sound from behind her. Turning, 8 noticed a small grate tucked away at the side of the alley. And it was now whistling, about to eject its riders.

_Uh-uh. Nope._

8 was a trained soldier (not that she remembered much about soldiering, but whatever) and she knew the basics of combat. She was in unknown territory. There were unknown number of unknown people of unknown intentions about to enter her area. And she wasn’t armed. This called for a tactical retreat, 8 decided.

Tactical retreat sounded cool. What 8 executed was more of turn and run for it in a random direction. _Not so cool._ Either way, the purpose was served, as within minutes, 8 was out of the vicinity. Except that by the end of her little sprint, 8 found herself even more lost.

It was 5.06pm now. _Ah well._

8 pulled out the emergency locator, and pressed it, as she mentally apologized to Marina and Pearl for whatever worry she might be causing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right. So DbtD readers would know that my favorite character is Eight. If you dont, now you do.
> 
> So yea, I didnt write much of Eight in DbtD, since its more about agent 0 and the campaign mode. But here we are now! Yes! Eight is going to be quite a key player in this fic, since, well, its kinda involving her as well! 
> 
> Right. I'm going to stop pushing DbtD now. I mean. I would like it to be read first? but whatever.
> 
> Erm. annnnd Im purposefully not talking about the chapters so far, cause it would get to spoilery. SO yea. I hope everysquid is enjoying the work so far.
> 
> As always, feedback is appreciated and loved, on the chapter or work as a whole.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!


	3. Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought.  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing.

The alley was now quiet, save for the clogging, hissing sound of the grate. Finally, with a groan, it ejected its riders.

“Uhhh…”

“That was … a ride” Charger groaned as she got up and looked around the vicinity.

“That was fun, actually. Though I may have threw up a little” Blaster said, before glancing down the only remining member of their team who remained on the ground. “Erm, Octoshot, you ok?”

“...”

“Right, let’s give her a minute”

Charger now joined Blaster in looking at their downed comrade. _Huh, she certainly did not look too well._

Charger echoed Blaster’s thoughts, and took the time to survey their surroundings once more.

 _They seemed to be in an alley, of sorts. She hoped this was an alley on the surface._ The place was deathly quiet, save for some faint sounds floating overhead. _Huh, maybe they could check that out…_

Charger’s thoughts were interrupted as a figure landed in front of them. Instantly, both her and Blaster grouped up next to Octoshot, reaching instinctively for the weapons which weren’t there.

_Right, they dumped their weapons since they were deadweight, and were probably tapped by the octarians._

So they were helpless then. _Not. They knew some hand to hand combat, so there was that, and the figure appeared un-armed..._ Charger shared a look with Blaster, a silence exchange of words. Behind them, Octoshot shakily got to her feet, in a wary position as well.

“Greetings, octolings. Please, be at ease” the figure spoke in octarian.

Alarm bells instantly went off inside Charger’s head. The figure spoke octarian, were they still in the canyon? Or octarian controlled territory? No, who was the figure even? They had appeared out of nowhere.

The figure was dressed in a black vest, with red stripes circling their torso and waist. A strange device hung behind the figure, attached to their back. _It looked like… wings?_ And finally, to complete their ensemble, the figure donned a black mask, which displayed the number ‘0’ in white light.

“Hmm. I assure you; I mean you no harm. But I wish to know your purpose here. Perhaps we can help each other? For every question you answer I will answer one of yours, vice versa. As a show of trust, you may go first” the figure gave a slight bow as they finished.

It was tempting. Charger exchanged looks with her comrades, _they could try to use this opportunity to get some information…_

“Where are we?” Charger asked.

“The surface, Inkopolis Square, Squidview alleyway.” The figure answered.

“My turn. What is your purpose here?” the figure now directed the question back at them.

“…” what was their purpose here?

“To find a friend. To escape the domes” Charger eventually replied.

“Our turn. How did you know we are here?” Charger responded.

“I have a sensor that informs me whenever the grate is used” the figure responded.

“My turn. Who is this friend you seek?”

“Our previous leader. We have been freed from the brainwashing, we believe she may be here as well”

“Our turn. Who are you?” Charger asked.

“…” it was now the figure’s turn to be silent.

“I am afraid I cannot answer that.” The figure eventually stated and bowed in apology.

“Then we are done. Please leave.” Charger stared straight at the figure, as if daring them to challenge the statement.

“…”

“Very well, but before that, allow me to give you a parting gift. You may think of it as an apology of sorts” the figure reached into their coat, and whipped out a thin card. “10,000C is stored inside here, it should be enough to help you start out your new lives. I’ll recommend getting a hostel to stay, then getting some turf war done as your income. Best of luck in your search for your friend.” The figure finished with a bow once more, before approaching them with the card held out.

_Wait what._

“So, you will just let us leave?” Charger asked cautiously. _No ulterior motives? Nothing?_

“Why yes, of course. Though do note you may be watched. Purely for the interest of safety, of course.” The figure replied, flicking the card towards them.

Blaster’s hand snapped out, catching the card mid-air.

“We are already being watched…” she said quietly, allowing the sentence to hang in the air.

 _What? Oh._ Now that she mentioned it, Charger could feel a pair of eyes watching her as well. She had been too distracted dealing with the figure.

The figure cocked their head, before letting out a single rasp of laughter.

“Ha! Agent 3, if you would. You are making them uncomfortable”

A moment of silence, then a swish of fabric as a second figure landed behind them. A figure that needed no introduction. Even if their name had not been said, she, they would all recognize the second figure.

_No. No. Not her. Not Her. Agent 3. No. NO. Please No. Not her._

They huddled together, instinctively for protection. _No. Not Her._ Charger had to force back a whimper. Even when brainwashed, they had felt fear at the mention of Agent 3’s name. _Now, now the demon herself was staring straight at them. No. Please no._

“Now then, you wanted to leave, yes? Head past 3 here, and take a right, then another right and you should be out of the alley.” The first figure drawled from behind them.

The speech somehow shook them out of the fear, as the 3 octolings were spurred into action. Dashing forwards, they passed the motionless agent 3 and ran for it. They didn’t look back. And they didn’t take a right. They would be lost for 3 hours.

\---

0 watched the 3 octolings flee.

“Hmm. That went exactly as expected now, didn’t it, my dear?” 0 noted, reaching up and deactivating his mask.

“First of all, don’t ever call me ‘my dear’ again. Second, good for you, you managed to scare a bunch of poor girls into fleeing for their lives. And thirdly, just cause I’m THREE. Don’t. ever. Involve. Me. In. Your. Schemes. Again.” Agent 3 replied, punctuating the last few words with force, as she scowled briefly at 0.

“Now now, the objective was met, yes? We can easily monitor their movements from now on. Though, both of us are needed back at Kamabo. There’s still work to be done there.” 0 quipped, continuing, “Ah, I will contact agent 4 about the situation. She can keep an eye out for them.”

Pulling out his communicator, agent 0 began typing a message to 4 when 3 interrupted him:

“We do…?”

“hmm?” 0 hummed in reply, not looking up from his communicator.

“We have a way of monitoring their movements? I thought we were only here to ascertain their motives.” 3 clarified.

“Ah. The card I gave them is tapped. I can monitor the flow of cash in and out of it. Also, there’s a built in wireless mic and GPS monitor” 0 explained, looking up from finishing his message to agent 4.

“…”

“What?”

“…”

Agent 3 slowly turned her body away from 0, subconsciously covering her chest, and fixing him with a dead-fish-eyes stare.

“What?”

“…”

“…”

“Pervert”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Agent 3 enters the fray! Yea! 
> 
> Ok so now I can finally talk about the chapters so far. (If you have already figured out all this then good for you). But yea, with this chapter, all the characters have been introduced.
> 
> I wrote Agent 3 in an... interesting way... I would say. Also, Haha, Agent 0. Poor guy has no sense of the social scene. I found it kinda funny to insult my own character (agent 0) in this fic, but, I mean, not everysquid is going to appear perfect to everyone else. So yea, Three now has quite a low opinion of poor 0.
> 
> Also, here agent 0 is wearing his full agent suit. As for how he and Three arrived so quickly, 0 has his Ink Wings equipped (Explained in DbtD). 
> 
> Also, also. Just to make things clear here, the grate Charger and co. found in the Canyon in chapter 1 is the one used by agent 0 in chapter 1 of DtbD. Thats why it makes sense of 0 to tap the grate. The gear is his as well (Creta disguise). 
> 
> Well then, I wonder how's the portrayal of Agent 3? Do you guys and gals like it? Hate it? Do let me know in the comments below. As always, feedback is appreciated and loved, on the chapter or work in general.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!


	4. Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, so I'm putting this here after all. 
> 
> But there's abit of dark moments in this chapter. Erm, so it doesn't quite warrant the 'graphic description of violence' tag( at least I think it doesn't). But ya, a warning and heads up nonetheless. If you guys and gals feel that this kinda writing does warrant the tag after all, please let me know in the comments, I would change it. Thanks. 
> 
> Now. Without futhur ado, let's begin. 
> 
> \---
> 
> Italics represent thought  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing.

_It’s been 2 weeks since that rather fateful (and heart stopping) meeting with the figure and … Her. Three. Her._ After running for it, they had obviously gotten lost, and spent 3 hours of wandering before coming across some youths who pointed them to the Square.

Those youths had looked at them funny, they were dressed weirdly, not to mention spoke in another language, though they were ultimately good squids and helped them as best as they could.

Now, they were housed in a rental room meant for 2 _(a bit of a tight squeeze, but way better than the bunks they were used to)_ , and were slowly beginning to adjust to surface life.

 _Huh. Wow. They were on the surface. It was sometimes hard to believe that._ But everyday, waking up, they saw the Sun, the streets, the people, the action. They were here now, in the light. It was all good and cheery, until the nightmares begun.

\---

_She was on the floor. Held down. Held down by chains of darkness. She couldn’t move, couldn’t talk. She was again trapped in the darkness. Then a figure appeared, in front of her. She knew that figure. Short yellow tentacles glowed eerily in the darkness. Uncaring, emotionless eyes stared down into her soul. Their hands came around, and pointed dualies right at her._

_She screamed, but couldn’t open her mouth. She struggled, but couldn’t move a muscle. All she could do was watch. Watch as the figure fired down on her. Pain. Pain short through her body as she was covered by the yellow ink. It burned. It hurt. But it didn’t end. She didn’t splat. It didn’t end. More and more ink rained down on her, and all she could do was suffer in silence. She struggled. She screamed. No. No. No. Please. Stop. No!_

“No!” Charger screamed, waking up with a shock. She was sweating, cold sweat coated her body. She was in bed, sandwiched between Blaster and Octoshot. Both of whom were now awake as well, already sitting up and in a ready stance. Eyes roamed, and muscles tensed, before their gaze fell on her.

She was sobbing now.

_No. No. No._

An embrace. They huddled together on the bed in a silent embrace, comforting her. And she cried, as her companions did their best at comforting her. Time was lost on her, but she did stop at last.

“I… I’m sorry for … waking you” Charger sniffled.

“Its fine. Nightmares?” Blaster asked. At her nod, Blaster continued: “I get them too, you know? Want to talk about yours? I’ll talk about mine.”

Charger paused for a moment, as Octoshot wordlessly rubbed her back. _It was soothing._

Then she talked. And told her comrades on the dreams, the nightmares she had been getting, from almost being killed back in the domes by the intruder. She thought agent 3 was all she feared, but she was wrong, there was now another, the intruder, whoever they were. _She feared them, too._

“Hey, hey. It’s ok. I get you. My nightmares, they are different though” Blaster spoke up at the end “so in them it’s kind of the opposite of yours. I… I’m the aggressor. I’m beating up the intruder. I take her by her tentacles; I drag her and slam her into the ground again and again. She screams, and dream-me laughs. Dream-me enjoys it. I…I don’t. I don’t want to go back and be that monster before… this. Before I, before we saw the light. I’m scared too, but I’m scared of myself…” Blaster trails off in a small voice, finishing up her story as well.

“Oh…” Silence reigns among them, as the 3 octolings shared a look and huddles together once more. “No matter what, we will be here for each other. Till the end”

“Till the end” they all echo.

“Erm… so… since we are on…on the topic. I, erm, don’t have any nightmares to share…” Octoshot meekly says, poking her fingers together.

“Oh! No don’t worry about that! It good that you don’t have nightmares!” Charger hastily intervenes, with Blaster nodding as well. “Right? Right. So erm, its… 3am in the morning. Let’s get back to sleep. And again, sorry for waking everyone” Charger checks the bedside table for the time, before finishing her sentence with an apology once more.

“Don’t worry about it”

“Any..anytime. We would love to help”

And with that, they laid back down onto the bed, and slept for the remainder of the night (or rather day)

\---

The next morning, as all their mornings were, passed similarly. They woke, and prepared for the day, changing into some basic gear that they had bought. Their weapons were shoved under the bed, not having enough space for an actual weapons closet and all.

_In all fairness, they probably could move to a more spacious apartment, after all was said and done, they had quite a balance of credits to their name. Truly, if not for the original 10,000C… they would have had a much harder time._

Offering silent thanks to the mysterious figure who had given them the card, Charger prepared for the day. She grabbed her official turfing ID card, and picked up her weapon and namesake, her charger. _Heh._ She remembered being rather confused at the whole concept of turf wars about a week ago. They had spent a day watching the action on the screen in the Square before deciding to register for the sport.

_The sport, it was still hard to believe Inklings had a sport like that. Well, it paid, and with 3 of them working at it, it paid pretty well._

Looking at her ID, she smiled as she remembered the registration process. The poor Inkling receptionist. Her face was rather priceless when Charger had registered her name.

“No miss, I’m afraid Charger is a weapon choice.”

“CHager” Charger had repeated, pointing to herself, in her extremely broken and off toned Inkling. Their names were literally the only words they were capable of saying, and only because they had gotten the weapons store owner to help them with it. _What a nice horse-shoe crab he was._

The receptionist had eventually given up, and entered ‘Charger’ as her name.

The poor squid then had to deal with ‘BasTER’ and ‘OctOshet’. Ah, that was the first time she had felt the warm fuzzy feeling of happiness. Truly, the surface was a wonderful place.

And the food. Oh the absolutely wonderful food. They had been extremely thrifty with their spending, opting to often have large servings of the same meal and sharing it between them. And each time they had been amazed by the favour and taste of the food. Charger remembered the first time she had eaten surface food.

After running from Three, they were exhausted and hungry. They had stopped at the first food outlet they saw, and pointed at the item which looked the biggest and costed the least. It was some type of noodle, and it was delicious. The 3 of them had broke down crying in the store then, as at last the situation came upon them.

The poor owner had thought something was wrong, and was panicking. Well, they managed to solve the misunderstanding in the end, paying for the meal with the card _(like magic, swipe and the meal was paid for)_ and bowing to thank the owner for the meal.

_Ah, fun times._

Even now, they were still learning new things every day. The people here were generally nice, with a few exceptions.

 _Of course, there were always exceptions._ 2 days ago, Octoshot was harassed by a group of inkling youths, who were adamant about taking her with them. Charger and Blaster had to intervene to help Octoshot out. Not that she needed it, if necessary, she could easily drop kick all those youths within seconds, but they didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention to themselves.

But generally, the surface was great.

Looking around, it seemed everyone was ready now. With a nod, Charger opened the door, and they set out. They set out, into the warm rays of the Sun. They set out, into the hustle and bustle of the city. They set out, into the smell and sound of the people. They set out, into another bright day ahead of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmmm.... Did your think this fic was all smiles and games? 
> 
> Allow me to correct you.... NOPE! ITS NOT!
> 
> Emotionally wise, our cast of 3 is quite a wreck, with only each other for support, not to mention their past still clinging and following them. Will they get better? hmmm. *Puts on fake cheesy advertisement voice* 'Read on to Find Out!'
> 
> Right. So I tried writing nightmares this chapter, I reakon there were probably going to be some right? From Charger's POV, she nearly died against 4 (even though 4 would never have pulled the trigger). 
> 
> (Does Charger know agent 4 is also in this fic? No?
> 
> "..." 
> 
> hehehehehehehehe.....~)
> 
> But yea, This was the chapter where I had to pick 1 out the 3 to focus on. I went with Charger, though I could have gone with Blaster as well, though then the dream sequence would have.... errr.... lets just say I may have needed the 'graphic descriptions of violence' tag again.
> 
> So yea, our 3 octolings would largely stay tgt for the story, though if I'm descriping anyone, it probably will be Charger. I kinda always wanted her to be the lead anyways, so yea.
> 
> So! This chapter was actually spilt in half due to its length, and would continue next chapter, where there going to be a nice reveal (At least I think its nice, then again I'm a tad of a sadist, shush). I didnt really care much about the word counts in this fic as much as I did back in DbtD, aaannnnd idk if thats a good or bad thing. Unlike DbtD, I didnt start this fic with a skeleton, I jut wrote whatever I wanted, edited it, and made it a chapter.
> 
> Whew! Thats alot of text! Like shit! alot! and here I am making it even more! Damn! Well welp, ok lets stop.
> 
> As always, feedback on the chapter or the work as a whole is appreciated and loved. I would reply to every comment when I can.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!


	5. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thoughts  
> \--- represents change location, POV, or time passing.

After locking up, the 3 octolings made for the subway. Their rented room was about 3 stops from Inkopolis Square itself, which was an absolute bargain given that it was only at 1000C per month. Riding the subway, they discussed their plans for the day, not worrying about being overheard since their discussion was completely in octarian anyways.

“So, as always, we play Turf war till 12 before we break for lunch? Then we wanted to try this new ranked mode, right? We can try that after lunch? Take it slow, maybe a game or two, evaluate our standing and the profit margin” Charger explained, she had more or less taken the role of the team leader at this point.

Nods all around signalled everyone’s agreement. _Good._

“However, unlike Turf wars, where we can spilt up, ranked is different. I believe this ranked mode requires teams of 4, and is more competitive. So would you girls like to spilt up or get a random teammate to join?” Charger continued, before waiting for a response. _Honestly, she felt that they should stay together in ranked. They were used to covering for each other in battle, and since ranked was more competitive, they should maximise the chances to win._

“I think we should stay together. We can carry the remaining member if need be” Blaster tilted her head and replied.

“Ye…Yea! I think we should stay together as well! We are… we are already used to covering for each other, after all…” Octoshot pipped up, though trailed off at the end, realizing that none of them wanted to be reminded of their past.

“Right… I agree we should stay together as well. So… lets do that” Charger concluded. And just in time, they were at their stop. Inkopolis Square.

\---

“Whew! That was fun! I had a really close one last game, though we managed to pull through last minute. 52% turf in our favour.” Blaster exclaimed, as she took her seat at lunch. “So, what about you all? Good matches?”

Charger gave the ‘so-so’ gesture as she looked through the menu. _What should they have today?_ She wondered, as she heard Octoshot start describing her matches this morning as well, with Blaster ‘Ooh’ and ‘Aah’ -ing in the background _._

_Hmm. A large pasta sounded good. And some meat, how about some … calamari… nope, absolutely not. Ah, how about chicken wings… though… the price was a bit steep for 6 pieces of wings…_

“Hmmm” Charger mused in thought. Then she realized that her companions were now quiet. Putting down the menu, she found them looking at her.

“Charger” Blaster looked at her and said.

“Yes?”

“Don’t worry so much. We can afford it.”

Oh. _Oh. Right._ She shouldn’t be so nit-picky now. They were on the surface, they should enjoy a bit, no? And Blaster was right, they could afford it. From what she could see so far, they were actually making a profit out of just turf warring every day.

 _Right._ Charger smiled and nodded, lifting her hand to call for the waiter. She would have a large pasta and wings to shares. All ordered through mute pointing, of course.

\---

Lunch was delicious, as always. The trio were now walking around the Square to aid in digestion before they jumped into ranked. As they walked, they took the time to admire the sights of the city, eventually resting against a wall.

“We are having a good time, aren’t we?” Blaster commented.

“We are stable, yes? Maybe… maybe its time to begin looking. You know, for her.” Blaster continued, eyes lazily roaming across the Square.

Octoshot, ever the quieter one, nodded earnestly in agreement to Blaster’s statement as well.

Charger sighed. _It wasn’t like she forgot their dream, their objective. They had to look for her, their leader as well. It was just that… well…_

“Yes. It was just that… well… I got a little distracted. Sorry.” Charger apologized.

“Its fine. We’ve all been distracted. Just saying, you know. Keep an eye out. First we need to learn the damned language.” Blaster looked up, into the blue sky. “The light is beautiful. She should see it too…”

And they all joined together in looking up, into the sky.

“Yea…”

\---

Charger gripped her, well, charger as they sat in the waiting room. There was an actual room to sit in. Unlike turf wars where everyone was grouped in a large lobby, here in ranked, every team had a room to wait in before their match. _It was nice._

So the 3 of them sat, as they awaited the arrival of their fourth member. Anysquid, really, who happened to register as a single member in ranked may be slotted into their team _. It wouldn’t matter. They had each other, they could pull though this._ Suddenly, the room’s lights changed, and a voice blared:

“Team 27. Team 27. Prepare for teleportation to spawn points. Mode: Splat zones.”

Team 27, that was them. B _ut what about their remaining teammate? Was the system really going to send them in one member short?_

Then the room lights dimmed, and Charger felt their presence sucked and moved to the spawn points on the map.

“ETA 1 minute. ETA 1 minute” The speakers blared once more.

Charger looked around, she and her comrades were now in green colour, as was dictated by the team’s colour. _Ah, there was an Inkling girl besides her. She must had joined, and the system must have teleported them all as a team._ Charger would say hello, but it wasn’t like she, or any of them could speak inkling. Maybe the girl would try to introduce herself? Charger had no idea how to deal with that other than the usual ‘pretend you are mute’, smile and wave.

 _Ah, said inkling was turning now, her tentacles were long, waist level, and they swayed as the inkling turned._ Charger plastered a smile across her face to greet her, after all, _always be nice, right?_

Behind her, Octoshot choked.

To her other side, Blaster gagged.

And Charger stared ahead, right at the female inkling, now fully turned around. Her smile was frozen on her face.

 _Oh Cod. Why? No. Why? Cod._ She couldn’t move. She didn’t dare move.

And very, very slowly, the inkling girl smiled as well. Edges of her mouth creeped upwards, as eyes bored into them. Then the siren blared, the match had begun.

Agent 3 turned and dashed forward.

“Damn you, Fooooour!”

_What a weird battle cry._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOOM BALA BING BOOM! 1 TIMES AGENT THREE APPEARS!  
> (That's a reference to something that no one except those involved would get. If you do get it, you probably know me in real life, do leave a comment, I'll be in touch. POWER!)
> 
> Right.
> 
> Who saw that coming? Oh my! Such a coincidence! Such luck!
> 
> Haha but yea. the chapter title is Three, so yea
> 
> Things are getting interesting now (*rubs hands*), the ride to the climax is coming. So buckle up! But dont worry, next chapter is going to be pure comedy and fluff between our good agents, nothing heart(s) stopping (yet).
> 
> As always, feedback on the chapter or the work as a whole is appreciated and loved! I would try to reply to every comment when I can!
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!


	6. Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought.  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing.

“Be careful” 4 had grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eyes that day. 8 was puzzled, she didn’t know what her fellow agent meant, but the look in her eyes, it was serious.

 _That was … 2 weeks ago?_ Ever since then, Shelly had been harder to get a hold of, and when they did meet up, Shelly was constantly looking around. _As if for enemies. Exactly as if for enemies._

At first, 8 had chalked Shelly’s disappearance up to ranked with her teammates, but now, _now_ she was fairly certain it might be additional agent work. 8 huffed, _why didn’t 4 tell her anything then? She was an agent too! Agent 8! And she saved the world!_

8 knew the answer. Shelly wanted to protect her. _Everyone did. Pearl and Marina too, they were nice and all, but… were a tad overprotective. Especially Marina._ Marina was normally calm and collected, but… she could be a worrywart at times. Hence why she designed the emergency locator for 8 in the first place.

 _Talking about the emergency locator…_ 8 winced. 5 minutes after pressing the button that day, Off the Hook arrived, _arrived in the freaking helicopter, which hovered above her. Ropes were dropped and a bunch of security inklings had dropped down and immediately surrounded her. Stun batons were drawn as she saw them signal each other to secure the area. Then, then Pearl had dropped from the copter, a freaking killer-wail charged up and ready to fire._ Talk about overreacting.

She loved them, nonetheless. Though she didn’t quite love the 2 hour long ‘lecture’ that followed. _Urg._

She been grounded for the next 2 days. Not grounded, ‘advised to remain within the area of the mansion’ as Marina put it. _It was the same thing._ She had blew it then, angrily snapping that she had enough of being monitored, enough of being controlled. Marina and Pearl were shocked, she herself was shocked. She didn’t know what was happening, and had hastily apologized to the musical duo.

Eventually, the 3 of them had reached an understanding. Marina and Pearl would let 8 live her own life as she wanted, provided 8 inform them briefly of her plans. Just in case. 8 had agreed, with Marina then helping 8 with her new phone on how to properly text someone (She had always been called before, and it always had been Shelly).

So today was special. She was standing in the battle lobby waiting for Shelly to turn up. This was the first time she actually used texting to invite someone out, and they had finally settled on a date to hang out. _Apparently, Shelly was bringing with her a special someone? Someone who they both knew. Huh. Probably an agent. They were literally the only squids 8 had contact with._

“…”

 _Oh Cod. What if it was the Squid Sisters? No. NONOnono… She wasn’t prepared!_ Before meeting her demi-Cods she had to prepare herself! She needed to be cleansed! A through body wash, perfume and make up applied _(whatever they were, but Pearl and Marina said it made them look good),_ all while the heavenly melody of the Calamari Inkantation played on max and droned into her head. _Yea. That sounded about right._ Except now she was just in casual turfing attire. Completely not fit to meet her demi-Cods at all.

”Yo 8!” Shelly voice broke her out of her thoughts. Turning to locate the voice, she saw Shelly, and with her _… Three? Agent 3. Ah. Phew. It was only Agent 3._ 8 mentally heaved a sigh of relief. Good Cod, she nearly had a heart(s) attack from her own imagination.

“So 8! I’m sure you’ve already met, but this is Three! Yea that’s her name, I find it weird too but whatever. Moving on! How about we get some games done today? Huh? What about that?” Shelly chattered, as she moved aside and presented Three in a ‘Ta-da!’ pose.

“Agent 8. Pleased to meet you. I have heard good things about you from the captain, and from the Per—agent 0 as well. Let’s have fun today.” The inkling in question smiled, and held out her hand.

“Oh! Yes very. The pleased to met you” 8 took the outstretched hand with both of hers and _… what was she supposed to do?_ Erm, she saw a similar scene from one of those romantic movies that Pearl secretly watched once (Which Pearl thought no one knew, but both 8 and Marina actually did). So she took the hand, lifted it and kissed the back of the hand. Just like in the movies. _Did she do it right?_

“Bahaha! Oh my Cod! You’re a riot, 8!” Shelly was now laughing, clutching her midriff, while 3 was looking on with a bemused expression on her face.

_Right. So she did it wrong then. Perhaps she was supposed to lick the hand? Or swallow it? What was she supposed to do?_

“Relax. It’s a handshake. See, you do it like this…” Three pipped in, seeing the distress flash across 8’s face. Slowly leading her on, 8 was able to execute this ‘handshake’ somewhat properly in the end.

_Nice! Another new thing learnt!_

\---

The 3 agents had then spent some time chatting, catching up with each other. It turned out that both agent 3 and 0, as well as the captain, had returned from Kamabo much earlier than expected. Three had meet with Shelly at the cabin and discussed… stuff. Stuff which the two agents tried, and failed to skim over 8 discreetly. 8 rolled her eyes, but let the pathetic attempt slide, she trusted them to let her know when she was ‘ready’.

One thing had led to another, and Three had gotten challenged by Shelly to a match. Or was it Marie (*Squeals*) who gotten Shelly into a match with Three? One way or another, now Three was going to have a little friendly competition with Shelly. Agent to Agent. 3 against 4.

Except that Shelly had already made plans with 8 that day. So here they were, the 3 agents gathered, standing around the battle lobby.

“So, erm, it would be kinda weird, not to mention rude to keep you just standing and waiting for us… So, wanna join? You can pick your side.” Shelly suggested to 8.

“What? NO! Ahem. I mean no. Ah, sorry 8, you may have to sit this one out.” Three cut in before 8 could even answer.

“Oh? You afraid of losing? 8 is good, of course. But what happened to ‘I’ll beat everyone in the splatoon blindfolded with one arm tied behind my back’ “ Shelly raised her voice pitch in a cheesy, cringey imitation of Three.

“…”

“Firstly, I never made that claim, Callie did. Secondly, don’t do that imitation again, please. And thirdly, just because I’m THREE … it isn’t about just us, ok? I, I don’t want to hurt 8” Three finished with a frown of concern.

Silence came over the party of 3. 8 was confused. _Why did Three worry about hurting her? It was just a friendly battle, and they all respawned anyways._ 8 was confused, very much confused. And the best way to solve a problem was to ask.

So she asked.

‘Oh. Yo..you don’t remember… Urgg. Sorry” Three rubbed the bridge of her nose, as Shelly looked on, now quite confused herself. Three continued: “Before this, all this, we fought. I fought you, 8. The you before Kamabo. And… it wasn’t pretty for you. I was worried you might get backlash if you see, or face, me in combat…”

Oh. _Oh._ Well that made sense.

8 smiled. A warm fuzzy feeling was forming inside of her. Three cared. Three, and by extension, the agents all cared about her. _Mm. it was nice._

“Its fine. We all must to overcome out inner demons, no? Besides… I really would be like to see you action, Three.” 8 said, “And I refute claim of your prowess me as well. Me and 4 to beat you” 8 finished with a cheeky grin of her own, Shelly joining in as she caught on.

“Oh? Fine by me. Don’t cry now” Three scowled, but it was a good scowl. Not a mean one. “Ah. But I’m rather low ranked, and you 2 are higher than me, right? So how are we going to matchmake…” Three trailed off as Shelly raised her hand to stop her.

“Don’t worry now. I got it ALL covered. You all know of agent 0, right?”

“Ah, yes. Agent 0, me know him” 8 responded.

“Oh, the Pervert” Three deadpanned, popping the ‘P’ sound.

_Huh?_

“…”

8 didn’t question it. _Nevermind, moving on…_

“Mm. I kinda agree. Maybe Exhibitionist Stripper?” Shelly quipped, a light blush forming on her face, “Anyways. He kinda owes me for the whole ‘tried to kill me thing’, so I got him to help rig the scales a bit.” Shelly finished, making air quotes with her fingers.

“…”

8 really wanted to know now. But she didn’t question it either.

“Oh you fantastic squid you… You got him to hack into the system for this? You know that’s illegal, right?” Three quirked her eyebrows at Shelly, though she didn’t particularly seem concerned about the legal aspect.

“Aren’t we as agents kinda in the grey area of the law? Eh.” Shelly gave a ‘so-so’ motion with her hand, “So are we doing this or not?”

“That’s abuse of power” Three blandly noted, and proceeded to contradict herself immediately, “but Hell Yes!” she grinned, smirk already set on victory.

8 smiled, and watched the 2 go back and forth. _They got along so well._

“Come on 8! We are going kick some butt!” Shelly proclaimed with a fierce competitive grin.

Looking up at Shelly, 8 smiled. She gave a little goodbye wave to Three as they walked into the battle lobby to register as duos.

Three waved back, as she headed for the lobby as well, but as a single player.

_This was going to be fun. Hopefully. Then again, what could go wrong?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heya! Best girl Eight is back! Yayer! 10/10 already!
> 
> So this chapter was just Eight doing Eight things, having fun and all, i mean, I said it was comedy, right?
> 
> About the 'fight' between Eight and Pearl and Marina, I totally could've expanded it into an extra 1-2 extra chapters, but I didnt. See? SEE? This author can control themselves. SO the fic remains on track. sacrifices.... (nah, I'll probably write it was a oneshot).
> 
> Talking about oneshots.... I got 16 chapters of oneshots planned. None are written (yet), but I may get around it them eventually, and the list may keep on growing. So yea! If you guys and gals have any ideas for the oneshots, do comment or contact me to tell me! No promises, but if it fits within the story and character, I may end up writing it! (proper credit will be given, of course).
> 
> Well then! As always, feedback on the chapter or work as a whole is appreciated and loved! I will try to reply to every comment when I can!
> 
> 'Oh you fantastic squid you...' is a reference to the movie Megamind. (Actual phrase 'Oh you fantastic fish you...') 
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!


	7. Reunions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thoughts.  
> \--- represent locations, POV, or time passing.

Three registered as a single player. _No issues there._

Three was slotted into an existing team of 3. _No issues there._

Three was instantly teleported to the spawn. _Weird, but no issue there._

Three turned to greet her teammates. _No issues… issues. There were issues._

Three was a smart squid. She had a good memory, she remembered places, faces. So She instantly recognized her 3 teammates, as if their tentacles weren’t enough of a dead giveaway.

 _Octolings. To be more specific, the 3 octolings Three met just 2 weeks ago._ She recognized them. And they recognized her.

Three watched as the octoshot gasped, and choked. Besides her, the blaster gagged. And the charger, the charger had a smile frozen on her face, not a muscle twitching. All 3 sets of eyes were staring right at her, and they were frozen solid, not a single twitch of movement from them. _Heck, were they even breathing?_

Three felt the corners of her mouth twitch upwards. She really shouldn’t laugh. But the situation was just… so…

“…” If 0 had purposefully set it up such that she had the 3 octolings as teammates… _No, she wouldn’t even have to deal with this whole problem if not for 4._ Not agent 4 exactly, this whole ‘friendly battle’ was kind of a proxy war between Callie and Marie. _Urggg._

The horned sounded, signalling the start of the game. _Splat Zones was the mode_ , she recalled. Whatever, she was just going to splat 4 as many times as she could.

“Damn you, Fooooour!” She screamed, as she turned and ran out of spawn.

It was only after reaching the middle did she realize she was _alone. Great. Don’t tell her that her teammates were still…_ SPLAT! Three’s soul flew backwards to spawn, sniped by a charger. _Eight. Dammit._

“Urg… eh. Girls, I get that there some bad blood between us, but please, can you help out here? I really, really can’t lose this” Three said, as she rose out of spawn. She watched as her 3 teammates, still in spawn, flinch a little, but remained still.

 _Oh, right. Octolings._ Three repeated her earlier statement, but in octarian this time, inciting looks of shock around, but they still didn’t really move. _Not good. Eh. Fine. Time to use the ultimate trump card._

“I will treat you girls a meal, ok? Anything you want. But you have to help me win this! Please!” Three panicked a little towards the end, her voice ending an octave higher than usual. She couldn’t afford to lose, at least it needed to be a draw. Callie and Marie would never, _never_ let her live a lose like this down.

“…”

 _They probably were watching, weren’t they?_ Given that a freaking pervert hacker (who was also an agent) could access and rig the match to begin with, there was a high chance the rest of the agents were watching as well. _Fantastic._

\---

“I will treat you girls a meal, ok? Anything you want. But you have to help me win this! Please!”

Charger was shaken. They all were shaken.

Here was Agent Three. Three who was considered a blood demon, responsible of the horrors of the Valley 2 years ago, offering to treat them a meal. _A meal… of themselves? Three was going to kill them and force feed them their own body parts??_

Ok, she knew she was overthinking it at this point. _Three… truly looked desperate, and … genuine in asking for their help. Whatever the case… they couldn’t just stand here for the remainder of the match, anyways._ At least if they were killed now, they would respawn… _if Three came after them after the match… Run. They would run for it._

Charger glanced at Blaster and Octoshot. Nervous looks were exchanged. Charger took the initiative, and brought her charger up to bear.

“Let’s… do this” she said, as she watched her 2 other comrades copy her.

“Atta girl. Good. So we need to fight an uphill battle here yea? I’ll give you instructions, but I don’t think it would go well. So, good luck!” Three flashed a grin at them, before exiting spawn again, this time with a full team.

Making for the centre, Charger could see that the enemy had already taken the splat zone. An uphill battle indeed. _Maybe if they performed well, Three would have a better impression of them, and hopefully… not kill them?_

Charger gave rapid military signs to her 2 comrades, before inking and swimming up to a vantage point where she could snipe. From her vantage point, she looked over the battleground. Three, as well as Blaster and Octoshot, were now contesting the centre from the enemy.

SPLAT! Blaster was taken out in a single strike. _An enemy charger._

She watched as Octoshot take cover behind an overhang, and she readied to give some covering fire. Except that Three simply charged ahead, and splatted 2 members of the enemy team in a single fluid stroke of her shooter. Hardly a single drop of ink wasted. Then the enemy charger fired again, but Three simply sidestepped the shot. _Huh. That was something._

Charger leapt from her nest, she needed to get closer to take out the enemy charger, timing her movement to the front in sync with Blaster, who had respawned and was making for the front as well. Rapid signing got Blaster up to date on the situation, and Charger ended with ‘tell Octoshot’, before she spilt and made for higher ground.

SPLAT! Octoshot’s soul flew past them back to spawn. _Huh. So much for that._ Except that last she checked, Octoshot was on their side of the map, which meant the last enemy who hadn’t showed their face had snuck around and splatted her. The enemy would be right ahead. Charger paused her ascent, as Blaster moved forward to cover her. _They would need to make a stand here, if the enemy was allowed to flank them... it wouldn’t be good._

Then the enemy appeared. Out of the blue ink, she appeared. Short tentacles framed an unforgettable face. A face she saw in her nightmares. The colour made no difference, blue, yellow. _It was her._ She carried those unforgettable dualies. Dualies which she saw pointed at them. _It was Her. HER._ The intruder from the domes.

The inkling looked at them, and smirked.

“Oh my. Fancy meeting you girls again. Let’s have fun now” she said, in octarian. Then she charged ahead, firing from those dualies of hers.

Charger screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA  
> I'M JUST GOING TO LAUGH CRAZILY.  
> I SET THIS UP AND OH MY COD I'M SO PROUD.
> 
> YES YES YES YES YES HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA  
> REUNION INDEED. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA  
> WERE YOU EXPECTING A HAPPY CHAPTER OF EIGHT MEETING CHARGER AND CO.?  
> NOPE. NOPE. NOPE.
> 
> WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA  
> I'M EVIL. AHHHHHHH  
> THIS IS JUST SO GOOOOOD.
> 
> UNTIL NEXT TIME,  
> STAY FRESH!


	8. Reunions II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought.  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing.

Her vision was a blur.

Everything seemed to slow down, as she saw the scene unfolding in front of her.

_Blaster was fighting. And losing. Her shots could splat the enemy in one shot, if she landed it. If._

She did not.

_Blue ink was covering her. She was going to be splatted. No._

_No._

_She couldn’t allow that._

_No._

She willed herself to move. Moving her arms felt like dragging them through mud, but she forced them to move nonetheless. And she fired.

_It missed. But the enemy backed away from Blaster._

She began charging another shot, even as the enemy now focused their attention on her. Blaster jumped backwards, weapon held at the ready to intercept.

_But it was useless. Blaster fired, but in vain._

SPLAT!

Blaster’s soul flew off.

_She was next._

She fired her shot, but the enemy jumped and dodged it. _Just like before. Exactly like before._

And now the enemy was in range. Dualies pointed down at her. _She would go down fighting, she decided, as she brought her charger to bear…_

“Hey now. Don’t bully my teammates!” Three shouted, as she jumped down, raining ink on the enemy.

The enemy dodged-rolled backwards, shifting and swimming a distance away. Three landed with a thud, shooter at the ready.

“Sorry about that. Too focused on taking the zone. Erm, so it’s ours, but Eight’s going re-take it back pretty fast, not to mention the other 2 are coming back as well. So could you and your buddies help out there. I’ll take of this snot nosed brat here” Three said rapidly, not bothering to turn to face her.

“Ex—EXCUSE ME? Snot nosed brat? I’ll have you—” The enemy inkling began, but was cut off by Three:

“Oh? Why don’t you prove it? Actions speak louder than words now. And picking on poor little girls goes to say a lot now, doesn’t it?”

The inkling in blue sputtered. Before she yelled and charged at Three, who responded in kind and charged forward with a yell of her own.

\---

Three was fighting. Fighting for her. Three had saved her.

“…” _Maybe Three wasn’t as bad as she thought she was._

_Everyone deserved second chances now, didn’t they?_

Charger picked herself up. _She couldn’t stay here. She had to help. Three had mentioned the splat zone being taken, but someone (Eight? Who was Eight?) was going to retake it. She, they had to hold down the zone._

 _But how to coordinate everyone? They were now all over the place…Ah. That’s right._ Charger aimed her weapon upwards, and charged her shot. Firing into the air, the display would seem random to anyone who saw it, but to her comrades, they would understand it. It was basic, simplified morse code, something every octoling had to learn, besides military signing.

“Cnt. Mt.”

The coded message was short, but would be picked by upon by her comrades. Moving upwards, Charger skirted around the battle raging between Three and the other inkling as she made for the centre herself.

“Centre. Meet.”

\---

Charger found the centre area to be a warzone. The enemy team had already re-taken the splat zone, and she spied Octoshot (respawned) to be once again pinned down by the 3 enemies. Hearing movement behind her, she turned and saw Blaster, wordlessly exchanging a look.

Blaster charged with a scream, as Charger took aim, and splatted an enemy inkling. Though now, with the element of surprise gone, the enemy had become more defensive. Which meant Octoshot could jump out, and jump out she did, firing upon the other remaining inkling who was retreating, swiftly splatting him.

_2 down. Now that charger…_

SPLAT!

Charger found herself flying back to spawn.

The charger must have gotten her. As she rose from the spawn point, Blaster got up besides her.

“Damn. That charger is good. No offense, Charger, but she fired such that the explosion got us both in a single shot… so that’s saying something.” Blaster commented, as they rushed out of spawn to the middle once more.

“None taken… I will get them” Charger replied, as in front of them, in the distance, Octoshot rose on her Inkjet and began firing down blasts of ink. She must have deployed her special to buy time while they made their way back to the middle. _Good choice._

As they approached the centre, they saw Octoshot on the ground (out of special meter) and already fighting against the 2 enemy members that had respawned as well. Fighting, and losing. She saw it coming, they all did.

SPLAT!

Another charger shot ran out and Octoshot’s soul flew back. _That was seriously annoying at this stage._

“I’ll take them” Blaster said, “take out that charger, Charger”.

_Heh._

“Sure…” Charger had watched where all the enemy charger’s shots had come from, they were constantly changing nests, staying hidden, but, not for much longer.

Charger stood in the middle of the splat zone, exposed. She trusted Blaster to take out the 2 enemy inklings, as she charged up a shot, and readied herself.

 _There. Movement among the crates._ A charger head pocked out, aimed right at her, but she was ready this time. She released the charge, firing.

SPLAT!

The enemy was splatted! She did it! Charger’s grin froze in place as she saw the octoling soul fly out and back to the enemy spawn. _What? WHAT? It was an octoling. The enemy charger was an octoling. Could it be… there were other octolings on the surface. Yes, it was possible!_

“Hey. Grats on the snipe. I finished up my end as well, you good?” Blaster’s voice shook her out of her daze.

“Yes… The charger…. She was an… octoling.” Charger explained, as she and Blaster rapidly re-inked the surface of the splat zone.

“Oh really? That’s great. We can totally go check her out after this. Let’s win first though” Blaster commented, finishing up the re-inking, and proceeding to expand their ink to the enemy’s side. “Where’s, erm… Three?” Blaster continued, cautiously.

“Oh… she is fighting… her…the intruder...”

“Still? Damn, makes sense, they are both good.”

“Mm”

“Girls… Girls! So… what did I miss?” Octoshot popped up.

The 3 had then taken a moment to fill Octoshot in, before once more the enemies were rushing them. _There was 1 minute left on the clock, if they could hold the zone, they just might be able to catch up to the enemy team and squeeze out a victory…_

With a collective nod, Octoshot and Blaster leapt forward, and fired down on the approaching enemies, as Charger took aim and waited for an opening to fire. Now the aggressors, they controlled the zone and pinned down the enemy team with their coordinated fire.

Then they saw her. The enemy charger. The octoling charger. She poked her head out and fired at them, missing due to the angle, but they all caught a look of her face. And as one they knew, they just knew. _It was her._ No doubt, it was her. That face, even once partially hidden by googles, was recognizable to the 3 octolings.

Of all places, of all times, here, now, was where fate had decreed for them meet her. Their first and former captain. And the reason why they had come this far. And she poked her head out once more and looked at them, giving a small wave, before ducking back.

 _She… She knew? Did she know? Did she remember them?_ Questions were left unanswered. But they would be soon. The match was ending, and they were winning.

SPLAT!

 _What?_ Oh, the enemy inkling that Three was fighting flew back to the enemy’s spawn. Three must have won. They were all distracted, for a moment. The shock of meeting who potentially was their long lost leader must have counted as well, as they simply watched in a daze as said octoling now poked her head out once more, took aim, and fired.

SPLAT! Charger was down, and flew back to spawn.

 _Uh-no. They had spaced out. And were still in the middle of a game._ She had allowed the enemy to pull a one up on them, despite Three helping to put them in an advantageous position to begin with. 

_Oh. Three. Oh Cod. Three. Three was going to kill them._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There! Ok! Heres the actual reunion, happy now?
> 
> No? why not then?
> 
> hahaha joking, I know why. But I'm evil and am not going to give that to you yet.
> 
> So yea, onto the chapter (and the previous one as well), it was meant to be 1, but had to be chopped due to length. I *may* have accidentally chopped it at a certain portion. heh.
> 
> So again, this chapter(s) are just descriptions of a match, I really tried to give everyone their moment at least, though with the amount of characters on set, I may have missed some. I hope I did ok.
> 
> Annnnd we are now at chapter 8. wow. just 2 more chapters and this work is finished. damn. well, theres still quite abit I have to wrap up on, so do stay with me for these last few chapters. and once again, to my readers reading this, thanks. just thanks for making it this far to begin with.
> 
> As always, feedback on the chapter or the work as a whole is appreciated and loved. I would try to reply every comment when I can.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!


	9. Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represents thought.  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing.

8 was surprised, pleasantly so when she saw her opponents for the match. Save for Three, the three members of the opponent team _(heh. Saw what she did there?)_ were all octolings. _Which was like, mega cool._ The fact that there were other octolings on the surface perked her up. This meant that there were other escapees from the domes. And she could talk to them! _Oh wow, right. She could talk with a fellow octoling at last!_

She hadn’t forgotten her initial goal of getting closure over her previous teammates, _no, she did not. She just been… ah ok, maybe she forgot, a little._ The surface was so cool though. Every little bit was new and fascinating to her. But! After coming to the surface, she had asked around (the agents) for any information on her comrades. The only real sources of information were either agent 0 or Marina.

Marina… Marina said she’d look into it, but never came back to her. And 8 hadn’t exactly chased her for it, admittedly, it wasn’t forefront in her mind. As for 0, well, only until recently (like right before the match), 8 understood he and agent 3 were busy with Kamabo, and didn’t expect much from his end either.

“…” Again, she hadn’t exactly rushed him, per se. It was more of a ‘would be nice to get some closure, but at your timing’ type of request. Ah well, whatever. Now that there were literal other octolings on the surface, she could ask them! She hoped they were friendly. _Anyone who has been freed from the brainwashing were probably going to be friendly, right?_

Right, so she gave her octoling opponents a once over. From their movements they were obviously a team, she could tell, though they were probably 1 member short. _Splatoons didn’t come in teams of 3, after all._ 8 didn’t really want to think about what happened to the remaining member of their splatoon. They probably didn’t make it to the surface.

“…” 8 gave a silent prayer of peace for the soul of the unknown octoling.

With all that said and done… 8 wasn’t going to let the fact that her enemies being octolings slow her down. _Nope._ They were in a game now. An extremely important game at that, her friend’s, and her own pride was on the line. They had to win! So she sniped them mercilessly, while Shelly had snuck around to try flank them.

As per their initial strategy, Shelly would attempt to engage Three, this battle was about them, after all. Meanwhile, 8 would be in charge of drawing away the remaining players, they were disregarding their own players, since they probably would be quite useless anyways.

“It isn’t nice the call people be useless…” 8 had frowned to Shelly’s statement.

“Ya sure girl. Wait till they are being splatted non-stop in front of you and decide what you want to call them, then” Shelly had said with an eye-roll. Which was totally cool. 8 never seen that expression before. _Heh. Something new to be learnt!_

_But well, by the middle of the game 8 had concluded that the 2 other players were, in fact, ‘useless’. Maybe the term ‘physically challenged’ sounded nicer?_

As for her opponents, they weren’t quite ‘useless’, or ‘physically challenged’. They were actually quite good, except they struggled due to starting on the back foot from the get-go. She didn’t know why they took so long to advance to the middle, at the start only Three was there.

She had sniped Three then, with Shelly besides her letting out a ‘Whoop!’ and highfive-ing her. _If that was even a word. Whatever_. But the remainder of the match had seen her opponents attempt to retake the zone, they did, with the help of Three _(or rather Three singlehandedly took the zone, somehow repeatedly dodging her shots),_ but quickly lost it due to Three abandoning her post.

It had been a back and forth from then on, ending with her getting splatted for the first time in the game. And the first time ever since beginning turf wars. _It was … an interesting sensation, to say the least._

She had bounced back from that, and jumped straight back into the action. Now that the enemy had taken the zone, it was their turn to be pinned down, as 8 struggled to get a clear shot.

And then they stopped. For whatever weird reason the enemy just stopped firing.

She poked her head out, and saw the 3 octolings looking at her. _Huh._ She gave a little wave, before ducking back. _HUH. They still weren’t moving… dare she…?_

A splat in the distance caught her attention.

 _Oh no._ Shelly had been splatted. Which meant Three was on her way to the middle. _Nope, she didn’t want to face her now. If they could just re-take the splat zone before the timer ran out… They could still win._

So 8 poked her head out again, and when she still wasn’t being shot at, levelled her charger and began splatting the enemies. With the help of the 2 remaining teammates, they had taken the zone back, just in time no less.

Three had appeared, a rather smug look on her face. A smug look which quickly disappeared when she saw that her team was, in fact, losing. 8 looked straight at Three, and allowed her face to transition to the smug look Three was just wearing seconds ago as the whistle blew. They had won.

“Veemo!” 8 quipped. They had won! Good game though. Finally! The game was over. She could finally meet the octolings from the other team.

Giving one last smile and wave to Three, she turned and headed back to her spawn, where Shelly sat, waiting for her.

“Damn Three! Well, at least we won.” Shelly had greeted 8 upon her arrival. “Well you win some, you lose some, right?”

8 nodded. She was glad Shelly wasn’t too down about it.

“Ah right. You probably already saw them, but there are other octolings here. You may want to… ah” Shelly trailed off, as 8 was already nodding furiously, a giant smile plastered across her face.

She as going to meet fellow octolings at last! On the surface! 8 couldn’t wait!

\---

After losing the match, Three had actually handled the loss a lot better than they thought. Three, true to her word, promised to take them for a meal, though none of them were particularity hungry now.

“Oh… well. Erm well how about tea break then? Something lighter? Ah. Ah right, you all probably want to meet Eight, right? Octolings and all”

They had nodded in silence, all rather deep in thought, as they followed Three. _8\. Eight. Was that her name now?_

“So, it was her, then?” Blaster broke the silence between them.

“Yea… I think so” Charger replied, before adding “We …will see soon”.

“I….Its probably was her. B..but she seemed different…Like she may have… forgotten…” Octoshot trailed off, looking around at her comrades.

Charger needed grimly, she felt the same way. Her hearts had done a 360 when the octoling had waved at her in the game, but now, it seemed that the octoling was a completely different person after all. _The looks were the same, but then again… it wasn’t much to go by anyways._

“Right… Sorry to interrupt. But is Eight… the person you mentioned you’re looking for?” Three half turned, and asked them.

“…”

“Yea… we think so… at least” Charger responded.

“Oh.”

“…”

And they walked in silence once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh. Buildup, buildup.
> 
> Right, so this chapter is a bit 'lackluster' once more, ah well, you need these kind of buildup chapters once in a while right?
> 
> Right, so there not much to talk about, I'm trying to wrap up all the loose ends here, for the last chapter (next chapter is the last chapter if you didnt know, now you do).
> 
> The fateful meeting is coming at last! what I have been teasing and hyping up is coming to past! Eight is finally going to meet Charger and co. Wonder how it go. heh. well, I DO know how it will go, you guys and gals are just going to have to wait till next chapter to find out. But suffice to say, I enjoyed writing it. And I feel its a nice ending, perhaps not what you may be looking for, but I like it.
> 
> As always, feedback on the chapter or work as a whole is appreciated and loved. I would try to reply to every comment once I have time.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!


	10. Whole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right! So i'm editing this in after a rather constructive comment last chapter! Don't worry, I didn't change anything, just small details such as the agent numbering and stuff, to make the writing feel better. I hope? So yea, just to be clear, I really appreciated that particular comment (even though it kinda hurt, but that's the pain of growth I guess), so I'm going to try and make this last chapter, as well as following works better according to those pointers. I'm actually just putting this here in case you notice a change in my writing style and are wondering why so. Again, I didn't cut and add any content, just edited the numbering slightly. Annnnd that's the end of my little announcement. On with the show!
> 
> \---
> 
> Italics represent thought.  
> \--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing.

“Agent 4. Please be informed that there are a group of three Elite (former) octolings currently on the surface. I believe their intention is to find agent 8. They should be freed from octarian brainwashing, though please keep an eye out for her. Please see the three files attached, they were part of Eight’s previous octoling splatoon. Regards, Agent 0. p.s. I know about that. Yes, that.”

The text had come in about two weeks ago, along with attached files on the three elite octolings. _And it was worrying. No, not that agent 0 knew about that. That. Whatever That was, Four hoped That wasn’t what she thought That was… But anyways, it was worrying. The contents, that was._

Four had browsed through the three files attached, each showing an elite octoling. Each was roughly the same, the only difference was their armament. _A charger, blaster, and octoshot. Wait. These weapon choices were familiar. Extremely so._

Four had then sent a stream of rapid-fire texts back to Zero. His reply confirmed her suspicions. The 3 octolings were the very same ones that she encountered in the Canyon with the then disguised Creta (agent 0). Four didn’t want to discriminate against them, but, well, _they HAD tried to kill her._

And so, she had looked Eight straight in her eyes and warned her: “Be careful.” That was two weeks ago.

The time in between had seen Four catch up with her teammates in some ranked. They still wouldn’t tell her whatever secret they were keeping, giggling between themselves whenever it was brought up. They called it the ‘SS’. _It was getting old. Maybe she should just ask agent 0 on what had changed in the time she was gone. Whatever._ The rest of the time had been hanging out (turfing) with Eight, or checking in with the captain on the situation with the octarians. Mostly the last point.

And now, somehow, by some string of fate, she was facing Three and the three _(heh)_ octolings in question. _She highly doubted it was fate. There were just too many coincidences to make it fate. This smelled like Zero’s work, and given that he had hacked the system for this matchmaking… it was really suspicious._ Whatever, she wasn’t interested in them, just to get to Three and get her fight. Though, perhaps she could drop by and give a hello? They had met before, and she didn’t want any bad blood to remain between them.

 _“Oh my. Fancy meeting you girls again. Let’s have fun now.”_ Shelly had intended for the statement to be rather casual. She even spoke in octarian to them _(something all agents were forced to learn, but Cod, was it hard)._ But somehow, it didn’t quite have the intended effect. The charger screamed, screamed in honest to Cod fear. _Huh._

Well, they had fought for a bit, with her splatting the blaster before Three showed up. She had ignored the octolings from then on, focusing on fighting Three. Though, she had to ask them later on what their deal was. _What had she done to them? They were the ones who nearly killed her. Whatever._

She had fought Three then, and as much as she would like to convince herself that it was close… it wasn’t. She spent 90% of the fight just dodging and trying to not get splatted. Whatever she did, whatever attack she launched, Three had dodged, or predicted it, and countered swiftly. It was a miracle she lasted as long as she did. _Long story short, she lost._

_“…” But at least they won the game, right? Yay for the awesome teammate Eight was._

So now she and Eight were exiting the battle lobby, heading to find the opponent team. Shelly was glad for Eight. By some stroke of luck, she had managed to meet her own fellow octolings on the surface, at least they could be better company to her.

Shelly tried, really tried to make Eight feel welcome on the surface, but between her agent duties and ranked practice, she didn’t really have much time to spare for Eight. And, there the fact that she was an inkling. Eight was an octoling. She didn’t see species and all that, but it would be good for Eight to have some of her fellow kind to bond with as well.

 _Ah. They were there._ Shelly spied Three making for them, and elbowed Eight, gesturing to the group of four.

Eight’s face lit up when she saw them. She gave an adorable squeal before rushing over, bypassing Three and instantly chattering to the three octolings behind in excited octarian.

 _Good for her,_ Shelly thought, as she greeted Three with a solemn look. _Three and her… had to … discuss matters of great importance of their own now…_

_Primarily who actually won the match._

\---

“Oh my COD! I cannot believe it! You girls are actual octolings! Oh how I missed seeing such a familiar face. I mean, its not like particularity good memories and all but yea I guess you never know huh? Oh what unit are you from? And when did you reach the surface? A week or so ago? You’re turfing now right? Must be weird right, how inklings have a sport like this and all, I found it weird too, but yea! Oh right, you girls were with Three! How weird is that! OHH and good game, by the way, sorry if I went too hard in sniping you girls, but like, its just a game. And a rather important game…. Ah! Have you met my teammates? That’s Fou---I mean Shelly! Over there. Talking with Three. Wonder what they on about. Whatever! Are you girls hungry? We can totally get some food! Surface food is great! Far better than those pathetic nutritional blocks. Oh, maybe you all haven’t tried surface food? Have you? I would—” Eight ranted on and on.

She was aware she was ranting. And probably confusing the poor octolings anyways. They certainly looked confused. Eight allowed herself to trail off, and pulled herself out of their faces. _See? She could be nice like that._

“Ahem! Sorry, I’m just so excited. So, my name is Eight! Pleased to meet you!”

“…”

“I…see. You don’t… nevermind. I am Charger, and my companions Blaster and Octoshot…” the octoling with a charger slung over her back begun.

Eight noticed a hint of sadness in her eyes. _A look of longing, a look of defeat. A bittersweet smile ghosted her face as their eyes met._

“Yo! I’m Blaster! Weird how we are just named after our weapons, huh?” Another octoling pipped up. Eight noticed a blaster was clipped at her belt.

She was way more energetic then the first octoling, _Charger was it?_ But Eight could tell, too, that she was hiding something. _A fake smile and forced energy. Eight could tell so much at least, she had learnt that… where had she learnt that? Nnn. Nevermind._

Eight looked over to the last octoling, Octoshot was her name, though she remained quiet and rather downcast.

“…”

“Erm… please leave her be, Octoshot is rather shy and quiet” Charger explained. _Lies. Eight knew it was a lie. She didn’t know how, but she just knew._

_~~“uoY nac reven eil ot em. yM sedarmoc.”~~ _

_Huh? What was that. Somehow a line of garbled speech popped up into Eight’s mind. What was it even? It was already fading, lost to the depths of her mind. Whatever._

“Well, erm, sure! So like, welcome to the surface I guess? Erm, oh! You can contact me at my number! We can, like, chat?” Eight took out her octophone _(Marina insisted it was better than those squidphones. Pearl objected, but whatever. Eight didn’t really care)_. Eight held out her octophone with a smile, waiting…

“We… we don’t have phones…Sorry,” Charger mumbled.

Oh. _Oh. Right_. She had been fortunate to be taken in by Pearl and Marina, and provided for the moment she reached the surface. Money, housing, food were never a problem for her. She thought nothing of it, she had saved the world after all, but now… She forgot that others may not have been so fortunate as she was.

Her fellow octolings had no doubt come to the surface with barely anything, heck, they probably lost a comrade on the way here, and here she was flaunting her comfort in their faces. _Oh. OH. D’vairt._

“D’vairt.”

“Oh Cod. I’m so sorry. I … didn’t know…” Eight trailed off, phone now hastily returned as she panicked and mumbled an apology.

“No… don’t worry about it. We… will get one. How…about helping us look for…one. Together, we can… shop for it…” Charger waved away her apology, smiling at her briefly.

_Cod. They were nice people… she was crying wasn’t she. Dammit._

“Ye..Yes! I would like… that.. Lets… lets meet…” Eight sniffled, trying, and failing to stop her tears from leaking out.

An embrace. As if of the same mind, the three octolings had embraced her.

“There now… we will be always by you. No matter …the past or the future. We will be by you…”

Eight could tell there were words left unsaid. She didn’t care. She was just glad she finally met them. They were together once more.

“…” _Who were they? It didn’t matter, perhaps she had met these octolings before, but she couldn’t remember. But they were here now. They could restart over now. A fresh start on the surface._

\---

She didn’t remember them. She had forgotten them.

And they were still fragments, then. But slowly, they could join back together.

The darkness was still around. But they could break through it.

Fragments were coming together, three pieces of old, and one new.

The fragments may not fit perfectly. The new piece may be different. It didn’t matter. They would chip away at themselves. They would take on more blunders to fill in the gaps. They would all do that, till the new piece could fit.

And then they would be whole again.

\---

That night, she dreamt once more.

_Again, she was held down by the darkness. And again, she looked up into those bright yellow eyes. But she didn’t fear them anymore. She wasn’t alone._

_She pulled and struggled. Others were here, pulling and tugging at the darkness binding her. The bonds came loose. They were here, behind her, helping her up._

_Blaster. Octoshot. Three._

_And her. The face that was once simply a number. Eight. Eight. Their’s, and her first captain. They were all here, supporting her. Smiling and encouraging her._

_The darkness screamed and fled. She saw the figure now, angry and ugly in the light. A twisted form of yellow and dark. It screamed at her, and charged. She wasn’t afraid. No._

_She felt her charger materialize in her hands. She gripped it. She was going to win. With everyone behind her. She could win._

_As a mere fragment, she could do nothing. She was weak. But together, they made one. They made her whole. And together, they were strong. They pushed her forwards._

_Blaster, Octoshot, Three, Eight. They were right behind her._

_She charged forward, towards the nightmare of yellow and dark, a defiant scream tearing through her lungs._

_Surpass the hero within._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surpass the hero within.
> 
> AHHHHH. I loved this ending. Kinda bittersweet, yes, that Charger and co. weren't able to fully reconcile with Eight, but they now have a fresh start over again. Not in the domes where everything is controlled, but free together on the surface. 
> 
> As for the nightmares, Charger is able to progress, able to take steps and beat back the darkness with the help of her friends now. I always saw it as the Calamari Inkantation freeing the octolings from the darkness, but they have to fully pull themselves out into the light. So for Charger, its the presence of Three (an inkling and former enemy) and Eight (former leader and current friend) that can help free her in her nightmare to surpass her inner agent 4.
> 
> As for Blaster, I haven't quite addressed her issues with the nightmares yet, I'm going to have to expand on her, and by extension, Octoshot's, character in the oneshots to come. 
> 
> And well, to clarify, agent 0 DID find out about Eight's former comrades, but chose not to tell her. As for Marina, well, I reckon she is a better hacker, go figure. 
> 
> And if you are wondering how Shelly had not encountered a single SiegeSlammer in a match yet... Erm. Actually I don't have a proper answer, I just didn't want to deviate the story. I would cover this plot thread in a one shot. So ya, that's a thing I'll get around to doing eventually. 
> 
> ' D'vairt ' is meant as an octarian swear word, and is a reference to ' D'arvit', a fairy swear word from the book series Artemis fowl. 
> 
> So yea, well that's enough of plot analysis.
> 
> With this chapter, Fragments ends. I would like to thank all my readers, lurkers, anysquid that have made it here, for, well, making it here! Thanks to those in the future reading this to the end as well. To everysquid, thanks for joining me for yet another ride! If you have not read my other work, Dark before the Dawn, please head over and do so, since this work is a sequel to DbtD.
> 
> For future works, I have 2 paths to take. Firstly, a bunch of one-shots ( I have a total of 21 chapters currently planned, but not written, for the one-shots. Yes I said 16 chapters before, I got more ideas.). Secondly, Agent 0's backstory, where I dive into his discovery of his shape-shifting abilities and how he met Captain Cuttlefish. The story is vaguely planned, and slightly written (not beta read. And I really need a beta reader for that. ). So yea, neither of these ideas are really done yet, so whichever I do, updates are going to be slow, since for both DbtD and Fragments, they were always at least 5 chapters in advance from the posted chapter. Do let me know which idea, or perhaps a completely new idea that you have, you guys and gals would like me to take.
> 
> Like seriously, I would very much like to know what you guys and girls would like me to tackle next. Cause I'm currently kind of stuck. I got some of agent 0's back story done, but now have writer block on it. As for oneshots, they feel fun to write, but I'm not sure if I can, given that I been doing multi chapter works till now. Though for oneshots, im kinda excited to try taking requests from your guys and girls. (if, and only IF they fit the storyline. Like, I'm not going to write on some incest yuri between the agents, no.). So do leave a comment if you squids got any feedback or suggestions. Thanks. 
> 
> Also, not quite a path, but I would like to do some art as well. I am actually an artist (self taught, so not very good) before I am a writer. Do check out the final chapter of Dark before the Dawn, its a character bio chapter, where I have some artwork on my characters. (As of now, there should be agent 0 and agent 4, though I may include characters from Fragments in there as well, or maybe it will be the last chapter of this work. Do keep an eye out.)
> 
> Feedback on the chapter or work in general is loved and appreciated. I would reply to every comment when I get the time.
> 
> Wow... I am a tad sad, cause it may be a while before I ever update here again. I do hope everysquid has been enjoying my works, I would try to return with a new work once I can. Ah, well.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay Fresh!

**Author's Note:**

> So! I hope everyone's enjoying it so far. Do leave feedback below on anything, anything at all. Just don't rant senselessly, please. And ... please don't curse. I'll appreciate constructive feedback, thanks.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Imagination Figmentation](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22049203) by [Klovar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Klovar/pseuds/Klovar), [Onxy_Black](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onxy_Black/pseuds/Onxy_Black)




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